LATEST ISSUE

The final AJ of the year looks back at the past 12 months and forward to the year ahead. We review 2018’s key architectural events and trends and preview the stories set to dominate the new year. We also pick out the people to watch in 2019 and highlight eight key buildings set to complete. And to make sure you’ve been paying attention, there’s a Christmas quiz on the events that shook the architectural world in 2018 and a chance to play spot the building. PLUS a building study of Karakusevic ..

The contractor has signed an agreement with Loughborough University, which has been working on the development of 3D printing for the construction industry since 2007.

The agreement will allow Skanska to use 3D concrete printing technology in real construction applications.

The technology, which has been developed by a team of collaborators including Foster + Partners, Buchan Concrete and Lafarge Tarmac, deposits a high–performance concrete precisely under computer control.

The 3D printers are fitted to a gantry and a robotic arm and deposit layers of concrete to create complicated components.

According to Skanska, the printer can make things which cannot be manufactured by conventional processes such as complex structural components, curved cladding panels and architectural features.

The team will now spend 18 months developing a commercial concrete printing robot alongside a 3D printing supply chain.

Rob Francis, Skanska’s director of innovation and business improvement said: ‘3D concrete printing, when combined with a type of mobile prefabrication centre, has the potential to reduce the time needed to create complex elements of buildings from weeks to hours. We expect to achieve a level of quality and efficiency which has never been seen before in construction.’

Richard Buswell from the Building Energy Research Group at Loughborough University added: ‘We have reached a point where new developments in construction manufacturing are required to meet the new challenges and our research has sought to respond to that challenge.

‘We have been convinced of its viability in the lab, but it now needs the industry to adapt the technology to service real applications in construction and architecture.’

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The AJ supports the architecture industry on a daily basiswith in-depth news analysis, insight into issues that are affecting the industry, comprehensive building studies with technical details and drawings, client profiles, competition updates as well as letting you know who’s won what and why.